The latest news on Israel and the European Union. Spain's Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, said on his arrival to the EU Foreign Affairs Council being held on Tuesday in Brussels that he will ask the European Union for three actions to take against Israel, "at least for the duration of the war", considering the petition is "not at all extravagant or extraordinary".
Those actions, as he explained via EFE, would be:
Suspending the association agreement, "at least for the duration of the war"
An embargo on weapon sales to Israel
Expanding the list of sanctions against those who "want to thwart the multi-state solution"
The Minister considers that it would be logic to suspend the association agreement when it has been concluded that Israel has violated human rights, as recorded in Article 2 of the Association Council.
"If European Union regulations state that at the mere suspicion of a human rights violation arms sales to war zones must be halted, then the entire European Union must halt arms sales to Israel."
He considers that this is nothing extraordinary, it is simply asking for the European Union to uphold to the rules upon it has been built regarding violation of human rights and international law.
The EU last week made an agreement with Israel to facilitate humanitarian aid to Gaza. But the meeting at Foreign Affairs Council comes right after Israel launched an attack in the south of Syria, justified to stop the presence of Iranian forces in the region. According to Euronews, this attack could strengthen Spain's request, and they would have the support of countries like Ireland and Belgium, but the opposition of Germany or Hungary.